A laryngoscope is used by a medical professional for procedures that require access to a patient's larynx. One such procedure is intubating the trachea in order to assist or restore a patient's ability to breath. Intubation is performed during surgery, and the ability to intubate a patient rapidly in an emergency is very important.
A conventional laryngoscope has substantially a straight blade. When using a straight-blade laryngoscope to assist in an intubation procedure a physician must insert the laryngoscope blade so that the upper front teeth, the base of the tongue and the larynx of the patient are in a straight line. Only then can the physician directly see the larynx through which intubation is effected. Many patients have low mobility in the head and neck region while others have anatomical variations that prevent a straight line alignment of the upper front teeth, tongue base and larynx and intubating such patients is very difficult because the larynx cannot be seen.
Laryngoscopes fitted with fiberoptic bundles are known. Such laryngoscopes permit a physician to view the larynx even in difficult alignment situations. However, even when a patient's laryn is visible it is sometimes difficult to align the flexible endotracheal tube with the larynx opening and to insert the flexible tube through the larynx. Sometimes a stylet or forceps must be used to guide the tube and the use of such instruments frequently causes injury to the patient.